plain--then it dipped once more, and Arcot breathed his relief as it
made a perfect landing, the long series of rollers on the base of the
gigantic hull absorbing the shock of the landing. There were small
streams in the way--a tree or two, but these were obstacles unnoticed by
the gargantuan machine. Its mighty propellers still idling slowly, the
huge plane rolled to a standstill.

Swooping down, the _Solarite_ landed beside it, to be lost in the vast
shadows of the mighty metal walls.

Arcot had left a small radio receiver with Tonlos in Sonor before he
started on this trip, and had given him directions on how to tune in on
the _Solarite_. Now he sent a message to him, telling that the plane had
been brought down, and asking that a squadron of planes be sent at once.

Wade and Arcot were elected to make the first inspection of the Kaxorian
plane, and clad in their cooling suits, they stepped from the
_Solarite_, each carrying, for emergency use, a small hand torch,
burning atomic hydrogen, capable of melting its way through even the
heavy armor of the great plane.

As they stood beside it, looking up at the gigantic wall of metal that
rose sheer beside them hundreds of feet straight up, it seemed
impossible that this mighty thing could fly, that it could be propelled
through the air. In awed silence they gazed at its vast bulk.

Then, like pygmies beside some mighty prehistoric monster, they made
their way along its side, seeking a door. Suddenly Wade stopped short
and exclaimed: "Arcot, this is senseless--we can't do this! The machine
is so big that it'll take us half an hour of steady walking to go around
it. We'll have to use the _Solarite_ to find an entrance!"

It was well that they followed Wade's plan, for the only entrance, as
they later learned, was from the top. There, on the back of the giant,
the _Solarite_ landed--its great weight having no slightest effect on
the Kaxorian craft. They found a trap-door leading down inside. However,
the apparatus for opening it was evidently within the hull, so they had
to burn a hole in the door before they could enter.

What a sight there was for these men of Earth. The low rumble of the
idling engines was barely audible as they descended the long ladder.

There was no resemblance whatever to the interior of a flying machine;
rather, it suggested some great power house, where the energies of half
a nation were generated. They entered directly into a vast hall tha